The Perfect Mile

I've listened to Neal Bascomb's "The Perfect Mile" recently, about the first few men to break 4 minutes on the mile run. I have enjoyed it. One of the men, John Landy, is self paced. Training at night, after school, he only competed against himself and the clock. It was a great strength to him, because he wasn't dependent on anyone else to push him forward.

I think we need to learn to be self paced. Often we're "competing" with those around us -- my friend and I were talking the other day and she said how she was reading a blog of a mother who cloth diapered, made zero waste, recycled everything, kept a clean house, made wholesome home cooked meals, and seemed to be a great mom. I sometimes read books by women who are homeschooling and having 10 kids and still juggling it, and we talked about how sometimes we feel overwhelmed when we read those things because we wonder if something's wrong with us... if we could be doing that, but aren't.

Ultimately, we should be competing with ourselves. I recycle a whole lot more than I used to and only have to take the trash out twice a month, where I used to take it weekly. I don't cloth diaper right now, but I suppose I could. I garden -- my gardening skills are getting better and I hope to have my best garden yet this summer. I often make wholesome meals, but sometimes we eat top ramen, and I'm okay with that. I love my kids, though I don't know if I'm a perfect Mom. I hardly blog anymore, but I am right now, so that's something. I am keeping a journal... it really doesn't matter what anyone else is doing because they don't live here -- they don't play with my kids, they don't water my chickens, they don't clean my house... I do. I don't do it all perfectly, but I do the best I can, and am okay with that. I think God is too... God doesn't love us comparatively -- He loves us individually and it proud of improvements we make and doesn't judge us by comparing us to someone else. Thank goodness!